England squad 'desperate' to reach World Cup, says Gerrard

England captain Steven Gerrard has insisted that every player is "desperate" to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Roy Hodgson's side sits two points behind Montenegro in qualifying group H and has just four games left to overturn that deficit and ensure their place in the competition.

And the Liverpool midfielder has admitted that the idea of missing out on what could be his last World Cup is "daunting".

"It's daunting if you fear the challenge and start worrying and concern yourself with not qualifying; it is daunting, there's no getting away from it," he told reporters at the Soccerex Forum. "It is a huge year for the FA, the 150-year anniversary and what they're doing for the game and putting back in.

"But in amongst that we've got a really big challenge ahead of us, and that's to qualify for probably the biggest World Cup that there's going to be. There's no bigger place than Brazil to have a World Cup except England for us players, so we want to be there and we're desperate to be there and we'll keep fighting all the way to the end."

The 32-year-old went on to reveal his disappointment at the media backlash which followed the 1-1 draw with Montenegro back in March.

"When we look back on the campaign," he said. "Hopefully when we become group winners, we can look back and say this was a very good point.

"I was a bit surprised by the reaction to that game because it was built up as a very tough away game. The bit of stick we've had since that result surprised me a bit.

"It was slightly harsh because of the buildup, all the questions I answered were 'this team's tough, they've got world class players, the atmosphere is going to be intimidating... do you realize how tough this game is going to be?'"